W2CXM - NA1SS Contact


bigger (116k)
ISS007-S-002 (March 2003) --- Expedition Seven Commander Yuri I. Malenchenko (left), and NASA ISS Science Officer and Flight Engineer Edward T. Lu pose for their crew portrait during training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia for their launch in a Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft. Malenchenko represents Rosaviakosmos, the Russian Aviation and Space Agency.

Transcripts, full video etc will be posted as they become available.

W2CXM conducted an ARISS contact with Cornell alum Ed Lu KC4WKJ (ECE '84) aboard the International Space Station NA1SS on Thursday, Sept 4 2003 from 1340 UTC to approx 1350 UTC. The event was well-attended with about forty people crowding into 401 Barton Hall, ranging in age from 5 to 70 years of age. People on hand represented all aspects of Cornell life, with undergrads, grads, postdocs, faculty, staff and of course children. Several members of the county amateur radio club, TCARC, also came to watch.

We started calling at -3 degrees elevation, in case we had some lucky ionospheric bending. No such luck though; we heard Ed's first call faintly almost immediately after the ISS became visible and established very solid contact on his second call. Ed had some QRM on the primary uplink frequency and requested a change to the first backup, and everything was very clear after that. Kent Fuchs, Dean of the College of Engineering, read a short statement and had a brief QSO with Ed. We then went to the questions. Ed seemed very at ease and handled all the questions in a thoughtful and informative manner. Ed was in the middle of the 13th question when the ISS went over the horizon and we lost signal.

From everyone who was on hand -- THANKS ED! We hope you can come to campus and meet us in person!

ISS Links

Online Articles About Our Contact

If you find any articles or references to our contact online please

Menu for this page:

Return to W2CXM home page

 

Audio (Sound) of the Contact

Here are the recordings of the "space side" of the contact, Ed's transmissions to us. Blank spaces in the recordings are where we (Cornell) were transmitting. Note that question 12 was not asked as the questioner did not appear for the contact.

 

Operations

The primary radio system used was a Kenwood TS-790 running a measured 42 watts into low-loss 9913 class flexible coax, to the old reliable W2CXM-modified 2m circularly polarized satellite yagi antenna with full az-el rotation. No pre-or post-amp was necessary. The backup system was an Icom IC-706MkIIG running 50 watts into a fixed-position "horizontal vertical" Ringo Ranger aligned so it would have maximum view of the pass. The backup system wasn't used during the contact as the primary worked perfectly. Audio was fed into a small stereo for the audience to hear, and an audio tape was made directly at the same time.

W2CXM president Chase KB9YER kept the antennas aimed during the high 80 degree pass. Postdoc Wulf KC2KCF operated the radio and kept us on frequency with the doppler shifts encountered (from -3200 Hz during approach to +3100 Hz going away). Advisor Mike N2VR established contact and managed the questioners. Position tracking was done on the CubeSat computer with Predict running on Linux. Mark KC2HQG handled video recording, Kevin WB2EMS handled audio and was backup for everybody.

Turns out Wulf did update the keplerian elements with the previous night's update. NA1SS seemed to appear about 15 seconds later than indicated by the fresh keps, which led to a few suspenseful moments when the ISS didn't appear "on time".

Several local hams reported they could hear Ed on the downlink frequency on handheld radios with fairly inefficient ("rubber duck") antennas and scanners during the middle part of the pass. Hopefully we can get an audio recording of one of these soon.

 

Movies

Here are some audio-video clips from a handheld cam taken by KC2EEU. The equipment was limited to 20 second clips, which keeps them short but in many cases doesn't cover the entire answer. These clips are in ASF format so you might need to get a special driver for your video player. (Windows Media Player should play these with no problem.)

 

Question List

Here is the final question list as submitted to NASA. Note that question 12 was not asked as the questioner did not appear for the contact.

QUESTIONS FOR W2CXM CONTACT WITH NA1SS
4 SEPT 2003 1339 UTC.
W2CXM The Cornell Amateur Radio Club &
NA1SS - Ed Lu (KC4WKJ) aboard the International Space Station

1. W. Kent Fuchs, Dean of the College of Engineering at Cornell. Welcome from Cornell!
2. Chase Million, junior in Physics and president of the Cornell radio club. Can you tell us about the different kinds of experiments that are done in the microgravity environment?
3. Max Eskin, a junior in Electrical and Computer Engineering. What do you think the options are for NASA in replacing or upgrading the space shuttle?
4. Curry Taylor, grad Physics student. If you were given your invitation to make an expedition to Mars today would you accept?
5. Mike Nicolls, grad student in Electrical and Computer Engineering. How does the space station deal with ionospheric electrical effects like electric fields, spread F, magnetic substorms, etc? (Question asked by J.R. Skok as Mike was still at a conference in California)
6. Ranga Rajagopalan, undergraduate in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Which of your EE undergraduate experiences do you feel has helped you most in your activities on the International Space Station?
7. Phani Ramachandran, undergrad in Electrical and Computer Engineering. We saw Mars, the tiny red planet, from Earth. Is the view any better from up there?
8. Chenchow Yeoh, undergraduate in Electrical and Computer Engineering. What inspired you to become an astronaut, with your background as an Electrical Engineer from Cornell?
9. Amanda Yu Fu, undergrad in electrical and computer engineering. What are the differences between being a student at Cornell and being an astronaut in space, and how can we prepare ourselves?
10. Wulf Hofbauer, postdoc in Physical Chemistry. With the ISS emitting a small amount of gases etc, how good is the vacuum just outside the ISS?
11. Carl Franck, faculty member in Physics. What is is the coolest tool you use up there and why is it your favorite?
12. (not asked) What part of the launch sequence was the most exhilarating?
13. Jase Baese, staff member in Horticulture. What was your experience of the recent blackout on the east coast?
14. Kevin Feeney, network engineer for CIT. Could you explain how reading materials and spare time equipment like your keyboard is handled for such a long stay in space? (Contact was lost as Ed was answering this question)
15. Mike Hammer, staff member and the advisor to the radio club. What do you like most about amateur radio? (Question not asked as contact had been lost)
 

ISS Tracking Coordinates

Here are the coordinates for our ISS contact pass as seen from Ithaca NY (42 26" x 76 29'). Note how quickly the ISS changes position in the middle of the contact; in one minute it jumps from 45 to 80 degrees elevation, and the next it drops to 61 degrees. Chase was indeed chasing the ISS! 

     Date     Time    El   Az  Phase  Lat   Long    Range   Orbit
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thu 04Sep03 13:39:53   0  304   181    51    103     2279   27340 *
Thu 04Sep03 13:41:01   5  305   184    50     96     1810   27340 *
Thu 04Sep03 13:42:08  11  306   187    48     90     1347   27340 *
Thu 04Sep03 13:43:15  22  308   190    46     85      905   27340 *
Thu 04Sep03 13:44:18  45  313   193    44     80      537   27340 *
Thu 04Sep03 13:45:06  80   19   195    43     76      396   27340 *
Thu 04Sep03 13:45:18  76   83   196    42     75      403   27340 *
Thu 04Sep03 13:45:36  61  106   197    42     74      444   27340 *
Thu 04Sep03 13:46:10  39  116   198    40     72      594   27340 *
Thu 04Sep03 13:47:03  22  120   201    38     68      913   27340 *
Thu 04Sep03 13:48:06  11  121   204    36     65     1334   27340 *
Thu 04Sep03 13:49:13   5  122   207    33     61     1790   27340 *
Thu 04Sep03 13:50:20   0  123   210    30     58     2257   27340 *

 

Return to W2CXM Home